Our Lady of Czestochowa

“Lord, give me the grace to be faithful to you and to the Church until eternity” is the daily prayer of retired Archbishop Ramón Benito de la Rosa y Carpio. / Credit: Anthony García, assistant to the archbishop emeritus

ACI Prensa Staff, Feb 20, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Archbishop Ramón Benito de la Rosa y Carpio was born on Sept. 19, 1939, a little over 85 years ago, in the town of Higüey in the Dominican Republic, the country where he has spent himself and wore himself out for the faithful entrusted to him. 

The midwife who attended to his Mami Nena, as he affectionately calls his mother, was his great-grandmother Damiana Cedano, who that day prophesied what would later come true: “Nenita, your son is a boy and he will be a priest.”

Sharing in this marvelous way how his story began, the archbishop expressed his gratitude to those who participated in the celebration of his 60 years of priesthood, which was held at the cathedral of Santiago de los Caballeros, an archdiocese he pastored from 2003 to 2015.

“Thank you, Mommy Nena, for teaching me from the time I was in your womb to pray, to love God and his mother, and to not be afraid of anything, clinging to the redeeming cross of Christ. Thank you, Papa Beno, for teaching me to be a man like you, capable of commitment, of being responsible and of having the right intention in my conduct.”

The archbishop, who was also auxiliary bishop of Santo Domingo and bishop of Our Lady of Alta Gracia in Higüey, said he felt the call of God in January 1954, when he was 14 years old, while reading the book “El Drama de Jesús” (“The Drama of Jesus”) by Jesuit priest José Julio Martínez and that he also made “the octave of Altagracia for my priestly vocation, going every day to its shrine.”

“If I were 14 years old again and if at that age I had to make a decision, I would be a priest again, I would choose the Lord as my only inheritance. I feel completely fulfilled,” he emphasized.

On Jan. 23, 1965, at the age of 25, De la Rosa was ordained a priest at the shrine of Our Lady of Altagracia by Bishop Juan Félix Pepén. On Jan. 6, 1989, at age 49, he was consecrated a bishop by Pope John Paul II in Rome.

His final words on the day of the celebration of his 60 years as a priest were: “When I look back, I feel good. I don’t know how many days, months, or years the Lord will give me among you, but every day I do pray to him and say this prayer: Lord, give me the grace to be faithful to you and to the Church until eternity.”

“On Jan. 23, 1965, I was ordained a priest at the feet of this blessed image of [Our Lady of] Altagracia, venerated by all the Dominican people as Mother Protectress. Sixty years later, as one more pilgrim, I have climbed up [the stairs] again to her altar, located in the basilica, her home and everyone’s home.” 

On the occasion of his 60th anniversary as a priest, De la Rosa shared with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, 10 pieces of advice for all priests and those who discover a vocation or open themselves to the possibility of one to persevere in it.

1. God called you — never doubt it.

“First, remain sure that it was God who called you. Never doubt it. I have always been sure for 60 years that God has called me and I have never felt a temptation or thoughts contrary to this vocation. I have felt sure, I have never doubted. That is why I remain sure and I feel as happy now as I did 60 years ago with my time in the seminary,” the Dominican archbishop emphasized.

 2. Go where you are sent.

“The second idea that occurs to me is this: Wherever they send you, go. Always be open to the ministerial mission, open to universality,” he recommended. “Wherever they send you, go. Always feel open to the universal mission.”

3. Value the powers you have received.

“Third idea: Always value the powers you have received. It is wonderful what the Lord grants to a priest,” the prelate emphasized.

“The first thing that draws my attention is the power of the Eucharist and not only being able to say Mass and being able to see that I can celebrate the Eucharist, changing the bread into the body of Christ and the wine into the blood of Christ, but I see that it is really so, by the fruits that are seen.”

In addition, De la Rosa referred to the ability a Catholic priest has to administer other sacraments, such as the anointing of the sick.

4. Remember that there will be “envy and gossip.”

“Fourth point: People will be envious and gossip. People will be envious, as happened to Cain. I think that it happens to everyone, to all human beings, in all ministries. You will be gossiped about inside the Church and outside the Church.”

“But always remember what Jesus Christ said, woe to you if everyone speaks well of you. The important thing is to carry out the ministry, to do what we have to do and to bless,” the archbishop encouraged.

5. There will be problems.

The archbishop pointed out that the problems in the life of the priest “are not vocational but of another type” and that work must be done to find a solution.

6. Leaving the priestly ministry doesn’t solve the problems.

After reiterating that the priest’s problems “are not vocational or of celibacy,” the archbishop emphasized: “Never look for a solution to priestly problems by leaving the ministry. I always believe that those who have left the ministry had a vocation.”

So he recommended that, in these situations, the priest has to “do what has to be done.”

7. Always say yes.

The prelate said he saw many fruits in his life by always saying yes and “never saying no.”

“One time I made the decision to say no to people because they were failing me. I said so to a woman who was telling me, ‘Come celebrate my daughter’s 15th birthday at my house.’ I said, ‘I can’t, I won’t go, I have pastoral ministry to do.’” However, because of the woman’s insistence, he finally went and thus understood the importance of not refusing the call of his flock.

8. Greet everyone.

“An eighth point that occurs to me is to greet everyone. I always remember my father who told me: ‘Ramón, until the last old lady is greeted, you will not have greeted everyone.’ I still maintain that position after 60 years.”

9. “God has a way”: Trust in providence.

“Ninth, when faced with life’s problems, I have to say what I learned from my great-grandmother, which I told my mother: ‘God has a way.’ There wasn’t a cent in the house to enter the seminary, but ‘God has a way,’ my great-grandmother told my mother, and the means were found,” he recounted, emphasizing that he was always able to find a solution to complicated financial situations.

“God has a way, God has a way to find solutions,” he added, and advised: “Work and you will never die of hunger.”

“The shirts that I wear now, with 60 years gone by, I haven’t bought any of them, people give them to me. Which is why I can say that God has a way. Divine providence takes care of you,” he said.

10. Priestly loneliness?

“People talk to me about the loneliness of the priest. I am always surprised by this question, because I have never felt alone. I cannot speak of priestly loneliness,” the Dominican archbishop shared with ACI Prensa.

“I have always had people who accompany me,” he added. After emphasizing that he always seeks to be “attentive and available,” the prelate said “I’m not alone, I have communities that accompany me,” such as the faithful of the parishes, of his “domestic church.”

De la Rosa affirmed: “I thank God every day and I’m still alive. And I say, Lord, I will be alive to fulfill the mission that you give me. I repeat many times, I will always be a priest. A priest in everything, a priest forever.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

null / Credit: KieferPix/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 20, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

A group of pro-life philanthropists in the United States has launched a $30 million Pro-Life Venture Fund to support projects aimed at making abortion “unavailable and unthinkable,” according to its founder.

The new group, called the Life Leadership Conference, was formally announced on Tuesday, Feb. 18. The intention, according to the executive director, David Bereit, is to reduce overlap and redundancies among pro-life groups and create “a team dedicated to advancing the entirety of the movement.”

“This is what the pro-life movement has needed, in my opinion, for decades,” Bereit told CNA.

Although Bereit said “everything is still in the very earliest stages” and “we have not begun the process of formal invitations and establishing the membership,” the Life Leadership Conference is already backed by influential pro-life leaders.

Bereit previously founded and led the international pro-life 40 Days for Life and serves as a member of the Equal Rights Institute’s board of advisers. The Life Leadership Conference is also supported by Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society, Princeton professor Robert George, and retired businessman Ray Ruddy.

“[We need to] bring our very best efforts to solving one of the greatest cultural problems,” Bereit added.

Bereit said the Life Leadership Conference is still finalizing its membership criteria but that the coalition will hopefully include major pro-life nonprofits as well as newer and emerging pro-life leaders. 

A coordinated effort post-Dobbs

The launch of the Life Leadership Conference was announced in a Feb. 18 letter outlining its goals that was sent to numerous pro-life organizations.

According to the letter, Bereit will build membership, create channels of communication among pro-life groups, and manage a budget to facilitate gatherings, support research and polling, and wage pro-life campaigns.

“The Life Leadership Conference is our way of working to ensure that the pro-life movement’s ideals are fully and faithfully operationalized, to the end of winning more and losing and compromising less,” the letter states. 

“Membership in the conference will be extended to those organizations and influencers who know how to achieve genuine victories as well as to philanthropists and donors with a significant interest and stake in seeing progress towards our goal of building an America in which every child is protected in law and welcomed in life,” the letter adds.

The pro-life movement secured major legislative wins after the Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in 2022 that states and the federal government can restrict abortion. However, the movement has struggled to win at the ballot box when the issue of abortion is put directly in front of voters through referendums.

“More people are — in general — opposed to what they perceive to be the pro-life movement’s position at this moment in time than they were five to 10 years ago,” Bereit acknowledged. 

“We can’t keep operating in a pre-Dobbs world,” he said. 

The letter states that “pro-life organizations need to adapt to an altered landscape and new set of challenges” given the circumstances.

“Some groups have adapted and are charting winning strategies,” the letter adds, but warns that “some are posting more losses than gains and are redefining what it means to win in ways that risk making the movement weaker and less effective.”

Building a culture of life

The letter states that the Pro-Life Venture Fund will be “spent on member projects that will actually reduce the killing of unborn children.” Its goals include making abortion less available, engaging younger generations, and providing women with assistance and resources to help them choose life. 

While the specifics are still in the works, Bereit said the mission is to make abortion “unavailable and unthinkable,” adding that an essential part of that effort is “reducing the supply of and the perceived demand for abortion.”

Although Bereit said some efforts will be legislative, he also emphasized the need “to raise awareness about the injustice perpetrated by the abortion industry” and to “strengthen [pro-life] pregnancy centers” and “bring about much, much greater awareness of these resources” that are available to pregnant women. 

Bereit also emphasized the need to work with younger activists and influencers, noting that young people are “the target of the abortion industry.”

“We need young people educated and then able to educate their peers, and that’s going to be a major thrust of this,” he said.

The pro-life movement “can achieve so much more” when organizations successfully work together, Bereit said.

A nursery room is seen at the Women’s Eastern Reception, Diagnostic, and Correctional Center (WERDCC) in Vandalia, Missouri. / Credit: Missouri Department of Corrections

CNA Staff, Feb 20, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A prison nursery program in Missouri that has drawn support from local Catholic leaders is offering mothers a supportive “family-oriented” place to bond with their newborn babies while still incarcerated. 

The nursery program at the Women’s Eastern Reception, Diagnostic, and Correctional Center (WERDCC) in Vandalia, Missouri, is offering “a great opportunity to reach a lot of moms” who might otherwise be separated from their very young children, program manager Kim Perkins told CNA. 

Perkins said the facility came about after the Missouri Legislature in 2022 passed a bill creating the “Correctional Center Nursery Program,” which “requires the Department of Corrections to establish a correctional center nursery” in at least one of the state’s women’s prisons by July 2025. 

The program “allows eligible inmates and children born to them while in the custody of the department to reside together in the institution for up to 18 months post-delivery,” the measure said.

Perkins told CNA that the program she oversees is the only one in the state. “We have two female facilities in Missouri, and all of our pregnant moms stay at our institution at WERDCC,” she said. 

“The state government funds the program, which is amazing, because most programs that exist like this are not fully funded by the state but by donations,” she said. 

“We have a great opportunity to reach a lot of moms and not worry about if we’re going to have enough diapers from month to month.”

Catholic leaders back nursery program

The nursery initiative has received backing from the Missouri Catholic Conference. The group noted earlier this month that it had supported the legislation establishing the program in 2022.

Father Louis Dorn, a priest with the Diocese of Jefferson City who has done prison ministry for decades, told the Catholic Missourian that year that he has seen the toll taken on mothers who are separated from their newborn babies. 

“Having been chaplain to incarcerated women for many years, I know that one of the most painful things for them is the separation from their newborn infants,” he said, calling it “demoralizing and harmful to their mental health.”

Perkins told CNA that the specialized facility — which looks more like a comfortable hospital or birthing center than a prison — offers bonding opportunities for mothers and “time to focus on themselves and their baby.”

She noted that there are requirements for mothers participating in the program, most specifically that they have 18 months or fewer left on their sentence. The crimes for which they were incarcerated, meanwhile, cannot have been dangerous felonies, sex crimes, or crimes against children. 

“Once they’re cleared, we can move them over to our facility,” she said. “We have seven rooms that are designated for moms and babies, but we can hold 14. They can double up if we need to. They’re pretty big rooms.”

“We have nice beds in there, baby beds, rockers, changing tables, the whole nine yards,” Perkins said. 

Mothers in the program go to a local hospital to have their babies, she said, after which they return to the facility, which offers a variety of services geared toward helping mothers and small babies.

“We offer parenting classes,” she said. “We have Early Head Start coming in. We’re going to have a nutritionist come in. We’re looking to get WIC [the supplemental nutrition program].” 

“We have programs to help them with the basics — with life skills, how to parent, how to do that well, watching their mental health,” she said. The facility also offers substance abuse classes if the mothers are recovering addicts. 

Also living in the facility, Perkins said, are “caregivers,” fellow inmates who also must be cleared to participate in the program. 

“If mom has to go to treatment, we have a daycare set up, and our caregivers work for the daycare and take care of the babies,” she said. 

“They record everything — when they change a diaper, if they feed the baby, if the baby was fussy.”

There are several other prison nursery programs throughout the United States. Numerous other countries, meanwhile, make efforts to keep incarcerated women with their young children if possible. 

In 2018, Pope Francis visited a facility in Rome that keeps children with their mothers who might otherwise be separated because of imprisonment.

The facility “allows mothers to accompany and take their children back to school and to carry out activities useful for learning a profession, in view of future reintegration into the world of work and society,” the Vatican said at the time. Francis has regularly visited prisons and emphasized the need to reach out to prisoners and minister to them.

Perkins, meanwhile, said the Missouri facility is intentionally designed to create a family environment for the women and children living there.

“It’s a different atmosphere,” she said “It’s very family-oriented. The ladies are very supportive of each other. It’s a nice, secure place. And we’ve tried to make it that way.”

The statue of St. John Paul II outside Gemelli hospital with flowers for Pope Francis; and the pontiff smiling at the Feb. 12, 2025, general audience at the Vatican. / Credit: Victoria Cardiel / EWTN News // Vatican Media

Vatican City, Feb 20, 2025 / 02:05 am (CNA).

Pope Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on Friday, Feb. 14, to undergo testing and treatment for bronchitis, the Vatican said. On Tuesday he was diagnosed with double pneumonia but on Wednesday showed “slight improvement,” according to the Vatican.

Follow here for the latest news on Pope Francis’ health and hospitalization:

Immigrants at Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley humanitarian respite center in McAllen, Texas. / Credit: Vic Hinterlang/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 19, 2025 / 17:40 pm (CNA).

Local Catholic Charities agencies across the country are being forced to lay off staff and weigh shutting down programs in the wake of the Trump administration’s 90-day federal funding freeze. 

Upon taking office last month, President Donald Trump issued directives that, among other measures, paused grants to organizations that aid migrants and refugees.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), on Feb. 18 filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over what the bishops say is an unlawful suspension of funding for refugee programs in the United States, many of which are run by Catholic Charities. 

Catholic Charities Santa Rosa: Aid for legal migrants cut

Last week Catholic Charities for the Diocese of Santa Rosa, California, became one of the first local agencies to comment publicly on the impact of the Trump administration’s funding freeze on its services for legal immigrants, noting that funding for its citizenship classes had been cut off.

Jennielynn Holmes, a spokesperson for Catholic Charities Santa Rosa, told CNA that on Feb. 4, the agency received a four-sentence email from the Grants Branch Chief of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Mary Jane Sommerville, informing them their funding had been revoked. 

According to Holmes, the freeze suspended nearly $500,000 in expected reimbursements from the federal government. The move, she said, was “unprecedented.” 

“We’ve never had this happen before in any funding stream, but definitely not mid-contract year,” she said. 

The email, reviewed by CNA, states: “Pursuant to the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s memorandum dated Jan. 28, 2025, and effective immediately, your grant from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is frozen.” 

“We recognize this will have an impact on your organization. We are unable to provide a timeline on this freeze,” the email added.  

“I think what was most alarming to us was who these services were for,” Holmes said. “These services were not for individuals who were undocumented. These were for individuals who are legally here [who] did everything right in a very broken immigration system.” 

“They did everything right,” she continued, “and now, in an indirect way, they are being targeted through this loss of funding.”

Catholic Charities in Santa Rosa’s immigration center provides citizenship classes and naturalization legal services to aid legal migrants through the process of becoming U.S. citizens. The center has nine Board of Immigration Appeals accredited staff, according to Holmes, who also said there are about 20-30 people enrolled in citizenship classes and several hundred more who are working through various stages of the naturalization process. 

Holmes told CNA the agency has no plans to stop providing its services, despite the funding freeze. 

Santa Rosa is currently working to apply for funding through the state of California after lawmakers set aside $50 million for different initiatives, including those that serve migrants. “We’re hopeful that we might be able to apply for some of those funds,” Holmes said, noting that the organization is in touch with state policymakers. 

Catholic Charities in Syracuse cuts jobs

According to a local report, a local Catholic Charities in Syracuse, New York, recently slashed 51 jobs from its refugee resettlement program after the Trump administration blocked $1.7 million in government grants it was set to receive this year. 

The Onondaga County Catholic Charities refugee program specifically assists migrants when they first arrive in the U.S., providing grants for food and housing, as well as job assistance in their first 90 days stateside.

“Catholic Charities provides support for refugees the moment they arrive in Syracuse, connecting refugees to education, housing, jobs, English language class, health care, and more,” the program website states. “Programs for children and youth help young refugees acclimate and find success.”

Catholic Charities Dallas: Nearly 60 employees laid off

According to a local NBC News report, Catholic Charities Dallas was forced to lay off 59 of its employees after federal funding for its refugee program was suspended last month. 

The program, which is almost entirely funded by the State Department, serves documented migrants in north Texas. The program recently received roughly 180 migrant families, which it must seek alternative funding to support, the report said.

Iraqi and Afghan refugees who aided the U.S. government overseas are among the program’s beneficiaries, according to the program website. 

Father Donald Martin Ye Naing Win. / Credit: Courtesy of Archdiocese of Mandalay

ACI Prensa Staff, Feb 19, 2025 / 17:20 pm (CNA).

Father Donald Martin Ye Naing Win, a 44-year-old diocesan priest of the Archdiocese of Mandalay in Myanmar, was killed Feb. 14 in the midst of the civil war that has plunged the Asian country into a serious humanitarian and human rights crisis.

According to the Vatican agency Fides, the priest’s body was found by some members of the faithful around 6 a.m. local time, “mutilated and disfigured with stab wounds,” on the grounds of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, where the priest worked as a parish priest. 

Ye Naing Win was ordained a priest in 2018. He devoted himself to his parishioners with zeal and fidelity, also bringing humanitarian assistance and spiritual consolation to those displaced by the civil war.

The church where he served is in the village of Kan Gyi Taw in the territory of the Shwe Bo district belonging to the Sagaing region. This area, Fides noted, is one of the areas where fighting is frequent between the militiamen of the People’s Defense Forces and the army of the junta that overthrew the government. 

“May the blood and sacrifices of countless innocent people, together with that of Father Donald Martin, serve as an offering to end the violence that is raging throughout the country,” the Myanmar bishops’ conference said in a statement, signed by their president and archbishop of Yangon, Cardinal Charles Bo.

“Let us take lessons from this heartbreaking tragedy. We call upon all brothers and sisters to wake up and end the violence,” the statement said.

Vatican News reported that 10 suspects have been arrested by the militants who control the region.

What is happening in Myanmar?

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is in the midst of a civil war following a military coup in early 2021, in which a junta overthrew the elected government of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who had promised a new democratic era.

The coup sparked widespread resistance by militants of the People’s Defense Forces, mass protests, and an escalation of conflict across the country.

The junta has killed thousands of people, detained tens of thousands, and bombed hospitals, schools, and religious buildings such as the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Mindat, which was badly damaged by airstrikes on Feb. 6 in Chin state, the only Christian-majority state in Myanmar.

The junta has announced elections for 2025 in which only parties approved by it will be able to participate.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks after being sworn in as Department of Health and Human Services secretary on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 19, 2025 / 14:50 pm (CNA).

Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reiterated that he plans to investigate safety concerns related to the abortion pill mifepristone during an interview on Fox News last week.

Kennedy, who was narrowly confirmed by the Senate on Thursday, told Fox News host Laura Ingraham that President Donald Trump has directed him to study the drug. He also criticized the lack of reporting requirements for nonfatal injuries caused by taking the abortion pill.

“What [Trump has] asked me to do is study the … safety signals, and I think that that’s worth doing,” Kennedy said on “The Ingraham Angle” on Thursday.

Kennedy also criticized the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for not requiring doctors to report nonfatal adverse side effects caused by mifepristone, saying: “The NIH did something that was inexcusable — which is to tell doctors and patients not to report injuries.” 

“That’s not a good policy,” Kennedy said.

This builds on Kennedy’s promise during his confirmation hearings when he made the same vow when asked about the abortion pill by Republican Sen. Steve Daines from Montana. 

“I think it’s immoral to have a policy where patients are not allowed to report adverse events, or doctors are discouraged from doing that,” Kennedy said in late January. “President Trump has asked me to study the safety of mifepristone. He has not yet taken a stand on how to regulate it. Whatever he does [take a position], I will implement those policies.”

As HHS secretary, Kennedy oversees the NIH, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). 

Under current FDA rules, mifepristone is approved to facilitate a chemical abortion up to 10 weeks into pregnancy, at which point the unborn child will have a fetal heartbeat, early brain activity, and partially developed eyes, ears, lips, and nostrils. The drug works by blocking the hormone progesterone, which cuts off the unborn child’s supply of oxygen and nutrients.

A second pill, misoprostol, is taken between 24 to 48 hours after mifepristone to expel the body from the mother, essentially inducing labor.

Mifepristone was approved in 2000 but subsequently deregulated to allow doctors to prescribe the drug without any in-person doctor visits and to dispense the drug through the mail.

The FDA’s approval of the drug and the deregulation were the subjects of an unsuccessful lawsuit filed by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine in 2022, which challenged the legality of the approval process. The United States Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit in June 2024.

Regulating or restricting the abortion pill has become an important cause for pro-life activists, as the drug now accounts for more than half of all abortions in the United States. Many pro-life organizations have expressed their intent to try to work with Kennedy on abortion regulations. 

“We congratulate Mr. Kennedy on his confirmation to this critical position and pledge to work with him to help implement transformative policies that protect innocent children in the womb and strengthen support for vulnerable women everywhere,” Human Coalition National Director of Public Policy Chelsey Youman said in a statement after Kennedy’s confirmation. 

“Our public policies can help provide them with this transformative assistance, whether it’s through protecting them from abortion pills, connecting them to life-affirming alternatives to abortion, or improving maternal and infant care,” Youman said.

Although increased regulatory oversight may be on the table, an all-out ban is unlikely. During his campaign for president, Trump vowed to keep the abortion pill available. Kennedy has long supported legal access to abortion.

Left: Banners at Rome’s Gemelli University Hospital. Right: Pope Francis waves from a wheelchair, Feb. 13, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Vatican City, Feb 19, 2025 / 14:20 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis’ health condition has remained stable as he continues a stay in the hospital, though recent bloodwork showed a “slight improvement,” the Vatican said on Wednesday afternoon.

According to the Feb. 19 communication, medical staff found the pope’s blood tests to show less inflammatory markers. They said his clinical condition is “stationary.”

The 88-year-old Francis, who has been receiving treatment for a polymicrobial respiratory infection at Gemelli Hospital since Friday, received an additional diagnosis of double pneumonia on Feb. 18.

The Vatican said on Wednesday that Pope Francis had breakfast, read a few newspapers, and did some work with the help of his secretaries. Before lunch, the pontiff received the Eucharist, and in the afternoon he was visited by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni for 20 minutes.

According to the prime minister’s office, Meloni wished the pope a quick recovery on behalf of the Italian government and the whole country.

The Italian prime minister said she found Francis “alert and responsive.”

“We joked as always. He has not lost his legendary sense of humor,” Meloni added.

A Vatican source said Wednesday morning that Pope Francis does not need supplemental oxygen, that is heart is holding up well, and he is able to occasionally sit in an armchair.

The Vatican has said Francis is receiving cortisone antibiotic therapy to treat a “complex” medical situation, but he “is in good spirits” and asks for continued prayers.

A rainbow appears above the Gemelli hospital where Pope Francis is hospitalized for tests and treatment for bronchitis in Rome on Feb. 18, 2025. / Credit: TIZIANA FABI/AFP via Getty Images

Vatican City, Feb 19, 2025 / 12:45 pm (CNA).

As Pope Francis continues to undergo complex medical treatment for bilateral pneumonia and a respiratory infection at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, the Vatican on Wednesday released the Holy Father’s prepared jubilee catechesis on “Jesus Christ our hope.”

Reflecting on the visit of the Magi to the child Jesus, recorded exclusively in the Gospel of St. Matthew, the 88-year-old pope encouraged Christians to follow in the footsteps of these wise “pilgrims of hope” who set out on a journey from their homelands in search of God.

“The Magi were considered to be representatives both of the primordial races, generated by the three sons of Noah, and of the three continents known in antiquity, Asia, Africa, and Europe, as well as the three phases of human life: youth, maturity, and old age,” the pope explained in his Feb. 19 catechesis.

“They are men who do not stay still but, like the great chosen ones of biblical history, feel the need to move, to go forth. They are men who are able to look beyond themselves, who know how to look upward,” he said. 

Despite difficulties experienced in the journey of faith, the Holy Father said God speaks to people through “creation and the prophetic word.”

“The sight of the star inspires an irrepressible joy in those men, because the Holy Spirit, who stirs the heart of whoever sincerely seeks God, also fills it with joy,” he shared.

Through ancient Scripture, the Magi were able to identify the birthplace of the “newborn King of the Jews” and “become the first believers among the pagans” in Jesus Christ as the savior of the world.  

“They see ‘a humble little body that the Word has assumed; but the glory of divinity is not hidden from them. They see an infant child; but they worship God,’” the pope said, referencing ancient author Chromatius of Aquileia.

In his prepared text, the pope added: “The Gospels therefore tell us clearly that the poor and the foreigners are among the first to meet the God made child.”

The Holy Father concluded his written reflection on the Magi by asking people to offer the child Jesus “the most beautiful gifts” of our faith and love. 

“Let us learn to adore God in his smallness, in his kingship that does not crush but rather sets us free and enables us to serve with dignity,” he said.

Immigrants at Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley humanitarian respite center in McAllen, Texas. / Credit: Vic Hinterlang/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Feb 19, 2025 / 11:50 am (CNA).

Both Pope Francis and numerous American bishops in recent weeks have called for more generous U.S. immigration policies, urging leaders and advocates to support laws and regulations that allow immigrants in the United States to remain here whenever possible.

In a Feb. 10 letter, Pope Francis urged the U.S. bishops to stay the course in their support for generous immigration policies and called on Catholics to consider the justness of immigration laws and policies in light of the dignity and rights of people.

The letter, which was widely seen as a rebuke to President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance’s support for the mass deportation of unauthorized immigrants, argued that deporting people who “in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution, or serious deterioration of the environment” places those same individuals “in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness.”

“This is not a minor issue: An authentic rule of law is verified precisely in the dignified treatment that all people deserve, especially the poorest and most marginalized,” the pope said. 

Following the letter, Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) thanked Pope Francis for his “prayerful support” and asked for the Holy Father to pray for the U.S. to improve its immigration system.

“Boldly I ask for your continued prayers so that we may find the courage as a nation to build a more humane system of immigration, one that protects our communities while safeguarding the dignity of all,” the archbishop wrote to the pope.

In an interview on Sunday with the Good Newsroom, meanwhile, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States, said the pope’s letter was written in response to the “huge expulsions of people” taking place in the U.S.

“The pope heard the cry of the bishops and wanted to encourage them,” the cardinal said. “The pope is on the side of the bishops and on the side of the poor.”

‘All goods are universally destined’

Pope Francis has long made care and concern of immigrants and refugees a major part of his papacy, regularly calling on wealthy nations to extend sanctuary and resources to those driven out from their homelands or migrants seeking a better life.

Trump, meanwhile, has run his presidential campaigns with a hard-line immigration enforcement message, vowing to expel millions of recent immigrants who entered the country illegally or with invalid asylum claims, as well as through parole programs started under the previous administration.

The pope in his letter “recognize[d] the right of a nation to defend itself and keep communities safe from those who have committed violent or serious crimes while in the country or prior to arrival.” 

Yet he said that even “orderly and legal migration” should not supplant “the truth about the equal dignity of every human being.”

The pope’s remarks came amid a broader push among U.S. bishops for more favorable treatment of migrants. Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez wrote earlier this month that though nations have the “solemn duty” to control their borders, “border walls need doors, too.”

The archbishop responded in part to remarks from Vance in which the vice president suggested that U.S. bishops speaking out in support of migrants were “worried about their bottom line” instead of humanitarian concerns. 

Gomez said the Catholic Church has been “a good partner” with the government in helping with immigration. 

The Church “did not break the nation’s immigration system,” he said, “but every day we deal with the human damage caused by that broken system,” including migrants victimized by traffickers and those addicted by drugs that have crossed the southern border. 

“We all agree that we don’t want undocumented immigrants who are known terrorists or violent criminals in our communities,” the archbishop said. But “we still need to fix the broken system that allowed them to cross our borders in the first place.”

Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, similarly argued earlier this month that while the Catholic Church “does not have the authority or the responsibility to determine the legal status of those living in the United States,” it nevertheless has “an obligation to care for every person with respect and love, no matter their citizenship status.”

Praising the Trump administration for its commitment to deporting dangerous illegal immigrants, Naumann still argued that “the vast majority of those who entered our country illegally are not gang members, criminals, drug dealers, human traffickers, or terrorists posing a threat to our national security.”

“If President Trump is able to shut down the border successfully, making illegal entry into our country virtually impossible, does it not make more sense to create a pathway for the undocumented to be able to earn legal status?” he argued. 

Advocacy has come from outside the U.S. as well. Canadian Cardinal Michael Czerny, the prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, earlier this month argued that immigrants are “a revelation of God’s active presence in history.”

Speaking to a group of theologians and pastors from the Americas on Feb. 7, the cardinal said Christians are “called to remember that all goods and resources are universally destined.”

“National security was ideologized and weaponized against the poor throughout the Americas,” he said. “For those of you who minister in the United States, I pray that your parishes and dioceses will be unafraid to walk with migrants.”

Many advocates and Catholic leaders have raised alarms over the Trump administration’s freeze on foreign assistance funds and grants, which the White House ordered last month in an effort to uproot left-wing initiatives in federally funded programs. 

The U.S. bishops this week sued the Trump administration over that measure, arguing that it violated federal law and would leave millions of refugees without critical aid. 

Other groups such as Catholic Charities have urged the Trump administration to reconsider the freeze, citing the “crucial care” the funding helps provide. 

Multiple U.S. bishops, including prelates from Virginia, Texas, Michigan, Maryland, North Carolina, and elsewhere have spoken out in favor of migrants in recent weeks, calling for an immigration system that enforces just laws while extending mercy to vulnerable populations. 

“We respect our borders and laws AND support immigration policy reforms and care for those who are already here, many already contributing members of our society for years. We do not see these ends as mutually exclusive,” Charlotte Bishop Michael Martin and Raleigh Bishop Luis Rafael Zarama wrote. 

Earlier this month, meanwhile, Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago told Vatican News he “deeply appreciate[d]” Pope Francis’ “prophetic witness” in his letter to the U.S. bishops. 

“I am grateful for his encouragement of bishops who have criticized mass indiscriminate deportations and the criminalization of immigrants,” the cardinal said, “as well as his challenge for all the bishops to walk together and defend the human dignity of the migrants in our country.”